Cirencester based Sentinel’s safety system installed on ND Brown’s entire fleet

By Nicky Godding

8 March 2022

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Cirencester-based vehicle safety specialists Sentinel Systems, has rolled out more than 750 vehicle safety systems to West Midlands-based commercial vehicle hire and hot box specialist firm, ND Brown.

ND Brown wanted to raise industry standards and looked to new technology to promote best practice and reduce the risk on the road, especially the safety of vulnerable road users.

Sentinel's equipment reduces the possibility of accidents, as well as giving the driver additional confidence and reassurance.

Side vision cameras, with cycle hotspot systems, and side protection solutions, provide drivers with a clear view while driving and manoeuvring the rental vehicle. When required Sentinel also provides additional systems, for example, cameras for 360-degree vision with in-cab monitors, recorders and playback.

ND Brown’s Operations Director, Harry Brown, said: "Sentinel liaises directly with our body builders so it’s stress-free for us. All new vehicles are fully ready for hire when delivered and have passed our internal audit process."

Sentinel’s expert knowledge of FORS (The Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme) is a voluntary accreditation scheme for fleet operators which aims to raise the level of quality within a fleet of vehicles), means the exact vehicle safety requirements are met on every vehicle. As a result, ND Brown became the first commercial vehicle hire firm in the UK to be accredited with the FORS Silver Standard.

Harry added: "Having our fleet accredited with FORS is great for us, in fact, nearly all of our customers insist on it so it’s useful we were so ahead of the game with fitting Sentinel’s equipment to all new vehicles. They’ve also advised us on many compliance issues when we’ve had queries from customers."

With customers all over the UK it’s vital ND Brown has a dedicated service and maintenance team to call on if anything goes wrong. Sentinel ensures all maintenance and repairs are carried out by the same in-house team that installed the systems. By giving a fast response time, Sentinel is able to help reduce fleet downtime.

Fleet & Maintenance Coordinator, Alex Gallan added: "We appreciate that Sentinel is able to react quickly when a vehicle is damaged during operation. The support team help us to quickly get our vehicles out for re-hire which is vital for us."

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.